A York publican is reminding customers they must give the registration numbers of their vehicles to avoid a fine if they use his car park.

The warning comes after embittered drinkers have posted bad reviews on social media of the Cottage Inn, Haxby, and sent ‘nasty’ emails.

However, landlord Chris Atkin says that the pub car park and interior has more than 30 warnings signs and if people give their details, customers can still park for free.

Chris took over the village pub during the pandemic in August 2020 and let the car park be used for people receiving their vaccinations nearby.

However, since lockdown restrictions eased and the pub could open again, “we have found it hard to regain our car park for the use of the pub and it’s patrons.”

Warnings were placed social media advising people to park at the top end of the car park so customers, including the elderly and disabled, could park easily and safely.

Chris said: “Nobody listened and on a couple of occasions we were verbally abused in front of our local customers when asked if they were using our establishment. That was the last straw so we decided to put a third party company in charge of our car park using ANPR cameras.”

Thus, last July, more than 30 warning signs were erected, including two ‘huge’ 8-by-4 signs, with further warnings on tables and bars and two ipads for customers to enter their details.

The pub has also posted warnings on its social media and also advises customers attending its functions.

Almost all customers are happy to give their details, but the odd few, Chris explains, park up and go shopping. They receive a parking ticket and respond by “sending nasty emails and putting 1 star reviews on Trip Advisor and Google.”

The publican continued: “I don’t think people know we actually pay for this car park and its upkeep in our lease enabling us to create more trade. As you can imagine it’s hard enough in these testing times without getting these One-star reviews.”

However, after receiving one such email from a Fiesta owner who said he would go to the Press, calling it “absolutely disgusting” he was ticketed for attending a wake at the pub, Chris decided to contact the paper first.

A recent customer also told Tripadvisor they were “absolutely enraged” to be ticketed after attending a wedding party for 90-minutes, saying they saw or received no warning.

Chris added: “We help all genuine customers who have received a ticket the best we can by providing proof they were in so they can follow the appeal process. Unfortunately, when we receive emails like above, with threats to go the press if we don’t rescind, enough is enough, we all have feelings.”